Gloria Rachel Allred (néeBloom; born July 3, 1941) is an American civil rights lawyer who is noted for taking high-profile and often controversial cases; she has been particularly involved with cases involving the protection of women's rights.[1]The New Republic has called her "a longtime master of the press conference."[2]

Gloria Bloom moved back in with her parents and continued her education. In 1963, she earned a bachelor's degree in English. With encouragement of her professor, she wrote her honors thesis on Armenian writers.[5] She tried her hand at a variety of jobs before she decided to become a teacher, taking a position at Benjamin Franklin High School. She began work on a graduate degree at New York University. After earning a master's degree, she continued as a teacher and, in 1966, moved to Los Angeles, California and lived in Glendale where many Armenians live.[6]

Allred started the firm Allred, Maroko & Goldberg with fellow Loyola graduates Michael Maroko and Nathan Goldberg in January 1976.[19] In 1979, Allred represented seven children and their parents in a lawsuit against the Sav-On Drugstore chain to stop the store from designating separate sections for boys and girls toys.[20] In 1981, while California State Senator John G. Schmitz was leading hearings on outlawing abortion, Allred presented him with a chastity belt. Schmitz retaliated in a press release, calling her a "slick butch lawyeress." She sued him for libel, and eventually secured a settlement of $20,000 and an apology.[21]

Allred wrote a letter to the Senate Ethics Committee in 1992 asking them to investigate the actions of Oregon Senator Bob Packwood, who had been the subject of a newspaper article that detailed his history of sexual harassment. She kept pressure on the Committee and urged Packwood to release his diaries. The Committee eventually voted for his expulsion and he resigned.[27]

Allred represented Melrose Place actress Hunter Tylo in 1997 when producer Aaron Spelling fired her because she was pregnant.[31][32] A jury awarded Tylo $4.8 million. The case was important in establishing the rights of actors to continue work if they become pregnant.[33]

After pop singer Michael Jackson dangled his son from a hotel balcony in Berlin in 2002, Allred wrote a letter to California's Child Protective Services, asking for an investigation into the safety of Jackson's children and spoke on CNN about the subject.[34] She also briefly represented a young boy in 1993 who had accused Jackson of sexual abuse.[35]

In 2002 Gloria Allred represented Gwen Araujo's family. Gwen Araujo was a transgender teen who was brutally beaten to death for being transgender. Gloria argued that if the defendants had looked at the late Ms.Araujo as who she was rather than what she was then it would not have happened. Therefore making it a hate crime. Gloria has fought hard to push transgender rights and protection into affect based off the Gwen Araujo case.

On February 24, 2004, Allred and her law firm, Allred, Maroko and Goldberg, filed the first lawsuit in California challenging the denial of marriage licenses as being unconstitutional. She took the case pro bono for Robin Tyler and Diane Olson and Rev. Troy Perry and his husband Phillip Ray De Blieck.

She represented three former Circuit City employees on behalf of a large plaintiff class in an age discrimination lawsuit against that company after it fired 3,400 workers nationwide in April 2007.[37]

In a March 2008 complaint against the TSA, Allred represented a client who was given pliers and told to remove her nipple rings at a Lubbock, Texas, airport.[38][39]

In April 2008, it was reported that she had been hired by the family of the teenager who had been beaten and filmed by eight Florida teenagers.[40] She also appeared on Today with Jessica Gibson, who was counter-suing Rob Lowe for sexual harassment.[41]

On July 30, 2008, Allred filed a complaint with federal regulators against Downey Savings and Loan Association regarding check-cashing procedures. Marc Retmier, a 19-year-old US Navy Hospitalman, was killed in action in Afghanistan in June 2008. Downey Savings refused to immediately cash his family's military bereavement checks, and Marc Retmier's family were forced to look elsewhere to secure funding necessary to pay for his funeral services.[42]

On May 14, 2010, in a news conference held at Allred's office, English actress, Charlotte Lewis, alleged that director Roman Polanski had sexually abused her in his Paris apartment when she was 16 years old.[4][45] In June 2010 she was hired by Debrahlee Lorenzana, a former bank employee who had drawn wide public attention after alleging she was fired for being too attractive.[4] In August 2010, Allred represented Jodie Fisher, whose sexual harassment claim revealed expense-account irregularities that led to the resignation of HP CEO Mark Hurd.[46]

Allred was visible in the 2010 California Gubernatorial race, going public as the lawyer for Nicky Diaz, a former domestic worker for Republican nominee Meg Whitman. Allred contended that Whitman employed Diaz for years while knowing that Diaz was an undocumented immigrant.[47]

On April 27, 2011, Allred appeared at a press conference with the family of Justin Quinn, who was allegedly threatened at a San Francisco Giants baseball game by Braves coach Roger McDowell. Quinn had objected to McDowell's uttering of homophobic slurs and use of a baseball bat to simulate a sex act in the presence of his daughters.[48][49]

On October 18, 2011, Allred won court approval to represent nine former middle-aged cocktail waitresses who were fired from their jobs at Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey after they "did not look good enough" in new uniforms modeled after 1920s-era Flapper outfits. Resorts had sought to bar Allred from the discrimination lawsuit, arguing in court papers that her "flamboyant and headline-grabbing antics" would add nothing to the case.[50]

On March 9, 2012, Allred called for an investigation into whether radio host Rush Limbaugh should be prosecuted in Florida under a 19th century law against "maliciously imputing to [any woman] a want of chastity" for derogatory remarks he made regarding Sandra Fluke, who testified before House Democrats to advocate for free birth control. Allred commented: "Mr. Limbaugh targeted his attack on a young law student who was simply exercised [sic] her free speech and her right to testify before congress on a very important issue to millions of American women and he vilified her. ... He needs to face the consequences of his conduct in every way that is meaningful." Allred did not represent Fluke or have contact with her at the time of her remarks nor did the prosecutor's office respond to request for comment.[51]

Also in 2012, Allred took on the case of Jenna Talackova, a Canadian transgender woman who was challenging her disqualification from the Miss Universe Canada pageant for not being a "naturally born" female.[52] The Miss Universe organization ultimately reversed its decision before the case proceeded to the courts.[52] In June 2012 Allred confirmed that she is representing a former girlfriend of Rudy Eugene, Eugene being the now deceased cannibal of the 2012 Miami cannibalism incident.[53]

On October 4, 2013 Allred was hired by the wife of a critically injured motorcyclist Edwin Mieses who was run over in the Alexian Lien beating. Lien ran over Edwin Mieses with his SUV while Lien was being surrounded and threatened by Edwin Mieses and his motorcycle gang on Manhattan's West Side Highway. Fellow bikers later caught up with him and he was assaulted. Allred told the press that Mieses, who suffered spinal injuries and two broken legs, was an "innocent victim" who was trying to "defuse the situation".[54]

Allred co-hosted a radio talkshow with Mark Taylor on KABC in Los Angeles for fourteen years. She also served as a panelist on the 1990 revival of television game show To Tell the Truth.[55] She made two cameos as herself in the 2001 film Rat Race.